Check Out The Trailer For RZA’s ‘Love Beats Rhymes’ Film Starring Azealia Banks

RZA is the visionary behind the Wu Tang Clan, but in the past decade or so, he’s spread his talents to Tinseltown. Gradually RZA-recta went from scoring movies and TV shows like Afro Samurai to acting, eventually directing The Man With The Iron Fist. Now he’s set to release his sophomore offering as a movie director with Lionsgate Films, who’s finally dropping his feature length film Love Beats Rhymes on December 1st. Who knows if RZA and film protagonist Azealia Banks’ previous issues stunted the movie’s release.

The film stars Banks, Common, Jill Scott, and more music industry personalities, and is centered around Banks’ foray into the world of slam poetry. She plays a character named Coco, the original namesake of the film, which was also called It Doesn’t Have To Rhyme. The trailer for the film shows Banks’ journey from a talented lyricist with untapped potential — until her peers introduce her to poetry and she flourishes. The film looks to be a coming of age for which Banks is “excited about,” as she mentioned on her Instagram yesterday.

RZA echoed those sentiments in his press statement, also offering that, ”producer Paul Hall and I have assembled a cool and eclectic cast to surround Azealia. Our story, which is set in today’s contemporary youth culture, will bring a new voice to cinema that needs to be heard.”